Newsroom
OSCE holds training seminars on fight against human trafficking in northern Tajikistan
DUSHANBE/KHUJAND 4 July 2003
DUSHANBE/KHUJAND, 3 July 2003 - A four-month awareness-raising campaign to inform the population about the problem of human trafficking recently ended in Tajikistan's northern region of Sughd.
The campaign, which was organized by the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, comprised a total of 18 seminars conducted by local experts for schoolteachers, mahalla (small village) leaders, doctors, kolkhoz (collective farm) leaders, migration service personnel, local authorities, marriage departments and representatives of youth organizations.
"Human trafficking is not just a question of sexual exploitation of women", said Asatillo Urunov, Acting Prosecutor of Kairakkum city and one of the trainers during the campaign, at a final press conference.
"There are several other ways how human trafficking manifests itself - through forced pregnancies, trade on human organs and slave labour. In addition, trafficking in the countryside is widespread in Tajikistan, including cases of parents selling their own children for three somoni (less than 1 USD) a night", he added.
One of his colleagues, Muzzam Shodieva, said that trafficking in human beings was the third most profitable form of illegal trade, after the one in narcotics and small arms and light weapons. "But unlike drugs and arms, a human being can be sold several times", he said.
There are no official statistics about human trafficking in Tajikistan, but according to some estimates about two million Tajik citizens live currently outside the country, with more seeking employment abroad. This could also put them at risk as potential victims of trafficking.
According to a study published by the International Organization for Migration in 2001, 1,000 women and children have been trafficked in 2000 from Tajikistan, mainly to the Middle East and countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The campaign, which was organized by the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe, comprised a total of 18 seminars conducted by local experts for schoolteachers, mahalla (small village) leaders, doctors, kolkhoz (collective farm) leaders, migration service personnel, local authorities, marriage departments and representatives of youth organizations.
"Human trafficking is not just a question of sexual exploitation of women", said Asatillo Urunov, Acting Prosecutor of Kairakkum city and one of the trainers during the campaign, at a final press conference.
"There are several other ways how human trafficking manifests itself - through forced pregnancies, trade on human organs and slave labour. In addition, trafficking in the countryside is widespread in Tajikistan, including cases of parents selling their own children for three somoni (less than 1 USD) a night", he added.
One of his colleagues, Muzzam Shodieva, said that trafficking in human beings was the third most profitable form of illegal trade, after the one in narcotics and small arms and light weapons. "But unlike drugs and arms, a human being can be sold several times", he said.
There are no official statistics about human trafficking in Tajikistan, but according to some estimates about two million Tajik citizens live currently outside the country, with more seeking employment abroad. This could also put them at risk as potential victims of trafficking.
According to a study published by the International Organization for Migration in 2001, 1,000 women and children have been trafficked in 2000 from Tajikistan, mainly to the Middle East and countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.